Inside coldest place on Earth where 30 people face -89C temperatures and 120 days in dark

The coldest place on Earth is a bone-chilling research station where temperatures have dropped as low as -89C with only 30 people living there.

There has been a lot written about the hottest place on the planet, with Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, holding that crown with a sweltering high of 56.7C. But the coldest place by contrast is less well documented and according to the latest Guinness World Records book, released last week, the record low is still held by the Vostok Research Centre.

The Russian station is located on Princess Elizabeth Land in Antarctica. Princess Elizabeth Land is claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, although this claim is not widely recognised.

A chilling -89.2C was recorded on July 21, 1983. The station was founded by the Soviet Union in 1957, and is situated in the southern Pole of Cold, where the lowest air temperatures are generally recorded.

Vostok is one of the optimal places to observe changes in the Earth's magnetosphere, with other studies including actinometry (the measuring of the heating power of radiation), geophysics, medicine and climatology.

A Russian who lived on the research station for a year described how locals coped with the constant subzero temperatures. Speaking on the Space and Polar YouTube channel, he said: "The temperature today is -31C. The humidity here is always quite low. Today it was about 50%. So quite low.

"And it has to be low because it's the coldest place on the planet. During our winter here, in June the temperature was -82C. That's a really low temperature. The lowest temperature on the station was recorded about 30 years ago.

"The station sits on the Antarctic ice shield at a height of 3,488m. Due to the fact that the atmosphere is slightly thinner on the polar regions it's really like being at 4,200m. It's like we're in the mountains here."

The station has an ice cap climate with subzero temperatures all year round, the same as much of Antarctica. Of official weather stations that are still in operation, Vostok is the coldest on Earth in terms of mean annual temperature.

The average temperature of the cold season (which runs from April to September) is around -66C with the mercury rising in the warm season to a slightly more temperate average of -44C.

As well as the chilling temperatures, a number of other factors make Vostok one of the most difficult places on Earth for human habitation.

They include the complete lack of moisture in the air, the windspeed, the lack of oxygen due to its high elevation of almost 3,500m and a polar night that last around 120 days from late April to mid-August.

Acclimation could take anywhere from a week to two months with possible symptoms including headaches, perceived suffocation a rise in blood pressure and nose bleeds.

Despite this there are 30 people living on Vostok in the summer months as of 2017, with the number reducing to 15 in the bleak winter months.

Earlier this year Russian President Vladimir Putin described Vostok as 'one of the most modern and well-equipped' on Antarctica as he took part in the launch of a new wintering complex. He added: "Now the situation has changed, the station’s capabilities have increased by an order of magnitude."